Friday Reads
Posted: September 9, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, morning reads 20 Comments
Well, it’s Friday!
I’m still trying to figure out which reality it is today. I’m not sure if this is some strategic move to head off all the FHA/VA lawsuits or a threat to sink Dodd-Frank, but BOA is talking about 40,000 jobs cuts. Wrap your brain around that number one day after the best speech ever on with details indicating jobs isn’t the goal of the American Jobs Act. They’re saying it’s because they can’t get all that fee income from debit and credit cards, but I think it’s just step one in hostage negotiations.
Bank of America Corp officials have discussed slashing roughly 40,000 jobs during the first wave of a restructuring, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the plans.
The number of job cuts are not final and could change. The restructuring aims to reduce the bank’s workforce over a period of years, the Journal said.
The newspaper said BofA executives met Thursday in Charlotte and will gather again Friday to make final decisions on the reductions, putting the finishing touches on five months of work.
We have a “credible but unconfirmed” national security threat. No, it’s not about them stealing your social security so Wall Street investment bankers can gamble it away, or removing your right to make decisions on your on health, or even the fact that there’s hundreds of thousands of unaccounted semi automatic weapons floating around the country. But, hey, be very afraid and be prepared for continual cavity searching at airports, porn scans, illegal wiretaps, and those extraordinary renditions to continue while you’re standing in line hoping to get your unemployment benefits.
Officials said they were taking the threat seriously, while evidently trying to temper the news by saying such threats are commonplace during key events.
“It’s accurate that there is specific, credible but unconfirmed threat information,” said Matthew Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “As we always do before important dates like the anniversary of 9/11, we will undoubtedly get more reporting in the coming days. Sometimes this reporting is credible and warrants intense focus, other times it lacks credibility and is highly unlikely to be reflective of real plots under way.
“Regardless, we take all threat reporting seriously, and we have taken, and will continue to take, all steps necessary to mitigate any threats that arise. We continue to ask the American people to remain vigilant as we head into the weekend,” Chandler said in a prepared statement.
A Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on background, said, “We will continue to respond appropriately to protect the American people from an evolving threat picture in the coming days and beyond. This may include an increased law enforcement presence at airports and other transit hubs, land and sea ports of entry, federal buildings, and other high-profile and critical infrastructure locations.”
The information originated from the tribal border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan, a federal official told CNN producer Mike Ahlers.
The super Cat food Commission is already showing signs of dysfunction. Senator Kyl has threatened to quit if any one dare mention cuts in the
defense budget.
Kyl revealed Thursday that he told congressional leaders to find someone else to fill the supercommittee seat he had been offered if the panel intended to further trim the Pentagon budget beyond the $350 billion over 10 years that was included in the August debt deal.
He told a standing-room-only lunch audience that he immediately told GOP leaders, “I’m off the committee” if further military cuts would be on the table.
“We’re not going there,” Kyl said sternly, recalling his message to his fellow GOP leaders. “Defense has given enough already.”
The comments cleared up whether the Pentagon and defense industry have a strong ally on the high-level panel.
If the supercommittee fails to cut $1.2 trillion by Thanksgiving, automatic triggers would be enacted to reach that figure, including around $600 billion in additional defense cuts over 10 years.
Fed Chairmen Ben Bernanke gave a speech in Minneapolis at its Economic Club and even managed to crack a joke. Once again, a real economist says it’s households that are hurting and not business.
One striking aspect of the recovery is the unusual weakness in household spending. After contracting very sharply during the recession, consumer spending expanded moderately through 2010, only to decelerate in the first half of 2011. The temporary factors I mentioned earlier — the rise in commodity prices, which has hurt households’ purchasing power, and the disruption in manufacturing following the Japanese disaster, which reduced auto availability and hence sales — are partial explanations for this deceleration. But households are struggling with other important headwinds as well, including the persistently high level of unemployment, slow gains in wages for those who remain employed, falling house prices, and debt burdens that remain high for many, notwithstanding that households, in the aggregate, have been saving more and borrowing less. Even taking into account the many financial pressures they face, households seem exceptionally cautious. Indeed, readings on consumer confidence have fallen substantially in recent months as people have become more pessimistic about both economic conditions and their own financial prospects.
Compared with the household sector, the business sector generally presents a more upbeat picture. Manufacturing production has risen nearly 15 percent since its trough, driven importantly by growth in exports. Indeed, the U.S. trade deficit has narrowed substantially relative to where it was before the crisis, reflecting in part the improved competitiveness of U.S. goods and services. Business investment in equipment and software has also continued to expand. Corporate balance sheets are healthy, and although corporate bond markets have tightened somewhat of late, companies with access to the bond markets have generally had little difficulty obtaining credit on favorable terms. But problems are evident in the business sector as well: Business investment in nonresidential structures, such as office buildings, factories, and shopping malls, has remained at a low level, held back by elevated vacancy rates at existing properties and difficulties, in some cases, in obtaining construction loans. Also, some business surveys, including those conducted by the Federal Reserve System, point to weaker conditions recently, with businesses reporting slower growth in production, new orders, and employment.
Asked after his speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota about disagreements over what the Federal Reserve should do next, Chairman Bernanke joked: “When two people always agree, one is redundant.”
Rather than cover the Villagers and their comments on the speech last night, I thought I’d give a shout out to a few of our friends’ blogs.
Here’s a good one from Lambert at Corrente: Words you won’t hear from President Fuck You tonight.
Carved in stone. These words:
No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order.
Carved in stone. Or, given the reality of Obama’s rump Democrats, scratched in sand, or written on the wind
Here’s the American Job Acts Summarized by David Dayen at FDL:.
Here is a summary of the American Jobs Act that the White House is putting out. I don’t have a ton of time to analyze it right now, but much of it will be familiar, albeit with a few new wrinkles. There’s $35 billion for state fiscal aid, which is somewhat robust and good bang for the buck in terms of saving jobs. All in all there’s $105 billion in infrastructure/public works (that includes a replenishing of the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, which helps address the foreclosure crisis). And there’s an attempt to restart the TANF Emegency Fund with $5 billion or so. That’s on top of the $170 billion for the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance. So all in all, back of the envelope says about $315 billion.
Okay, enough of all that, I’m going to grab my surrealistic pillow and go back to bed. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Very good summary.
After listening to Bernanke yesterday, I thought he gave a pretty good summary of where we are in terms of the Recovery. Several commentators at Bloomberg Radio seem to feel that further Monetary efforts will have limited returns.
It has to be the President and Congress who have to selectively stimulate. However both sides are not on the same page for finding a solution. Both are focused into their view of society and have not seen a need to bend.
I have evolved to the view that Depressions clear out nonsensical thinking and we are in a Resession. Not enough people are suffering yet. The Financial Community thinks their old model of Securitization and corruption are the american way. The Dodd Frank bill seems to be eviserated by financial lobbyists.
Obama does not even approach the political capabilities of a FDR or Clinton to get us out of this mess. Krugman increased the chances of double dip. I suspect he is right. I suspect that part of Obama’s problem is he left the architects of the Financial Failure in place. Can we expect Shapiro and Geitner to lead the recovery? Do they know how to counteract the lobbyists?
I think you’re right, FL. I’ve thought for a long time that we’re going to have to really hit bottom before the Villagers finally wake up to reality. I just don’t know how low the bottom has to be. Do we have to collapse completely like the Soviet Union?
Hey, after reading some of the comments in those links to speech summaries, the Villager’s residents aren’t getting it.
Check out what the people are saying who post on some of those links in last night’s aftermath post: https://skydancingblog.com/2011/09/08/the-jobs-speech-aftermath/
Great post dak, I found this link from New Deal 2.0 in my reader this morning:
Daily Digest for September 9: The Night the President Showed Up » New Deal 2.0
It has a bunch of links about last nights jobs speech…check out the Krugman link (he thought the plan is bold…) and the Huffpo link, talks about the crappy slave labor program in Georgia…and the Stiglitz one, (I don’t know why, but I like to say that dudes name.)
One more for you…Add this to the list of friends blogs: Feminist Friday: You Keep Using Those Words, “Jobs Plan…” « The Widdershins
Read the whole thing…madamab talks about the Lautenberg’s “21st Century WPA Act”
The bill is cosponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Thanks for the shoutout, Minx! 🙂
Lautenberg is one of the last real Dems around.
Yes, he is, and he’s one of my senators. Rather nice that — but, alas, he’s defnitely a senior. Make that, a senior senior. He’s rich, but has a heart of gold, cares for everyone.
Where are the Dems like him in today’s Dem Party???
Indeed as jawbone pointed out, he’s in his 80’s…from back when they were still minting actual Dems . Great he’s doing something they also did back in the day as well…actually craft a bill to help people who don’t have a few billions laying around
How retro!
” Job plans” Indeed madamab, it reminds me of Bush 2( and now Obie) polluting proposals called ” clear skies” They will have their little jokes
Excellent post
but I think it’s just step one in hostage negotiations.
spot on!!
Obama outlines right-wing program in “jobs” speech
http://tinyurl.com/44val4y
While hailed by his Democratic supporters as the return of a new combative Obama, his phony populist demagogy about the need for immediate action and commitment to ensuring that every American received a “fair shake” stood in stark contrast to the actual content of the policies advanced in the speech. All the proposals, moreover, will be paid for by even deeper attacks on core social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security……
….At the center of the proposal is the conception that only the private sector can create jobs, and that the government can prod it along with the offer of tax incentives. The reality, however, is that corporate America is sitting on a cash hoard amounting to trillions of dollars, fed by record profits and government bailouts, and has shown no inclination to utilize these vast resources to provide jobs for the unemployed. A reduction in payroll taxes or tax incentives for hiring veterans or the long-term unemployed will not change this class policy.
…
That is the most concerning to me and cutting/gutting programs and essentially telling the unemployed that it is those seniors on Social Security/Medicare and those poor people on Medicaid that are causing all this unemployment.
I didn’t hear anything about cutting the wars and bringing an end to the real cost of what is causing us to bleed monthly…Trillions spent and the spending continues.
Yep, WV, Obama’s “jobs plan” seems to be yet another roundabout way to put more nails into the New Deal / Great Society coffin. It’s damn scary.
That is my take exactly.
Why not admit the truth: those “jobs” are gone, possibly forever since NAFTA was passed and the robber barons knew they could pay slave wages to employees overseas while fattening up the bottom line.
Here in my city alone, we have lost over 6 large manufacturing companies that either went South to get away from union regulations, or took pieces of their industries overseas. This left thousands locally without jobs in that sector, creating a permanent vacuum of decent paying wages.
The primary employers in this region are service industry jobs that usually hire part time or per diem workers at the minimum wage. I am watching my city sink even further into the malaise as it becomes more difficult to entice job seekers or other companies to relocate to this part of the nation.
They can talk “job creation” until the cows come home. Until there is some incentive to close tax loopholes that provide company execs a reason to hire someone at a decent wage they will continue to employ overseas workers at a fraction of the cost.
Paying a worker $2.00 an hour without benefits or a union to interfere then selling a pair of jeans for $150.00 guarantees huge profits and bonuses. Why change the dynamic when it all seems to go in your favor thanks to lax laws which affords large donations for those “doing business as usual”?
We no longer “make” anything but rely on foreign markets, i.e. China, to provide the goods we buy through companies like WalMart. Which is why unions are taking the hit today. No more unions, no more pressure.
Congress is in bed with the corporations whose number one goal is to protect that bottom line at any cost. Privatization is the focus and “job creation” is the least of it.
So, the speech didn’t move the market up, but moved it down? Oh my…
This is an interesting analysis. It makes sense to me (and echos Pat Johnson’s comment), but I am not as economically literate as many who post and comment on this blog:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/a-real-jobs-program_b_955357.html
djmm
Very good article, djmm. Here are some key grafs from my (non-economist) perspective:
Moody’s seems to think the plan will actually add jobs … but that’s if parts get through congress that are unlikely to get through congress
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63069.html
Since they are largely analyzing a speech, I think it’s easy to see how the ratings for those lovely derivatives could have been so wrong. 🙂
This seems to be a trend. Obumbles speaks, the market drops.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DJI
Asshat.
Dak, (nice post by the way) are there ways to enhance demand through durable government contracts, say a series of contracts for extra cars for the feds or something else made in America that the government can buy for 50 billion dollars or so?
Hillary 2012
For anyone unable to click through to lambert’s post at CorrenteWire, the words carved in stone are FDR’s.
A guy who’d lost the use of his legs, but had huge…uh…stones. And another Dem with a heart of gold, who actually gave a damn about the poor, along with the working and middle classes.
No wonder Obama takes his cues from St. Ronnie, another actor playing president and who played it without real feeling. I still think it’s because Obama has Mommy issues, maybe that she didn’t manage to keep the philanderer around.